Mat Davies argues that it is time for an effective inquiry into the ambulance service by the National Assembly’s Health and Social Care Committee

Mat Davies argues that it is time for an effective inquiry into the ambulance service by the National Assembly’s Health and Social Care Committee

IN FEBRUARY 2012 a petition signed by 450 people was delivered to the Senedd.

It called for a scrutiny inquiry into the ambulance service. Today, we are beginning to see real improvements, and a properly conducted scrutiny inquiry is now on the horizon. It must be conducted as soon as possible.

The petition was launched at the end of a public meeting in February. It was delivered at the stairs of the Senedd and taken up by the health and social committee for consideration later that month.

In December, Monmouthshire council voted to support an inquiry which would address accountability and transparency.

An inquiry ought to balance long term failures regarding accountability and transparency in addition to financial pressures and securing performance targets.

Research into Monmouth revealed why. In some ways the constituency echoed other parts of Wales. Targets had fallen below the 65% response target for life-threatening calls in 2011 and 2012.

However, a Freedom of Information Request revealed that the response time for Monmouth town was 47% last April. Monmouth contains 10,000 people, and an above average elderly population.

The ambulance service has been an on-going saga for the people of Monmouth over the past couple of years.

A “health group” formed last February and held a series of meetings with the chairman of the trust, area and regional managers and local paramedics.

Establishing why the targets were so bad was not easy because reliable data was absent. Statistics for category A calls changed depending on where they came from.

The Monmouth AM, Nick Ramsay, pointed out that this problem emerged during case work.

“The statistics have got to be easily accessible,” he said.

“Information was not kept centrally, and data collection needs to be more reliable because without that we end up in a developing world situation.”

The chief officer of the Community Health Council, Catherine O’Sullivan, found that the trust regularly “give you figures on turnaround not handover. This sends us off in 20 different directions.

There is no way out of it if we are not going to look at the real problem.”

The Monmouth health group has discovered that the trust was under significant pressure financially and in terms of maintaining levels of appropriate provision.

The chairman of the trust revealed that the service was facing a 3% cut while demand was increasing by 3%.

One local paramedic was critical of the performance targets because he did not believe they functioned as a fair representation of the service.

At the present time the Health Minister Lesley Griffiths has set up a review into the trust after a series of high profile ambulatory failures in 2012.

The 10-week review will look at alternative structural models for the Ambulance Service, consider previous external and internal reviews, speak to staff, health boards and relevant stakeholders and take account of good practice in other health systems.

Simultaneously, the Welsh Audit Office is looking into the trust after several concerns which arose regarding its budget.

The Chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee Mark Drakeford said: “Until these exercises are completed, it is difficult to know how we would shape the remit of any future inquiry to ensure that we provide a constructive and valuable contribution to the discussion on the future delivery of services.”

Mr Drakeford did point out that he would ensure that the committee considers whether this matter should be added to a list of future inquiries.

Thankfully, the Health Committee is a platform within which parties can work together, both forming a consensus and in delivering real results by making recommendations.

It is clear that an inquiry must focus on the trust’s shortcomings in terms of accountability and transparency.

Doing so would lead to a more robust and reliable service. It is vital that health and social care committee begins an inquiry sooner rather than later.

The people of Wales deserve it.

Mat Davies received a grant from the James Pantyfedwen Foundation to conduct a study into a policy area which would help the people of Wales. He will be delivering presentations of his research throughout Monmouthshire between now until March. He already has the support of Monmouth town council and regularly blogs about the campaign at www.matdavies.co.uk

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